No Maria Sharapova in Russia as the former No. 1 remains sidelined for doping until April 2017, but Russian fans still get defending champion and former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and on the men’s side Roberto Bautusta-Agut who upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic today in the semifinals at Shanghai.

Women’s Notes: Two Top 10 seeds in the field in Kuznetsova, who took a wildcard, and Cibulkova…Half the seeds are Russian…High-profile Russian Maria Sharapova misses this event due to her doping suspension…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Lots of dangerous floaters and tough starts for (1) Kuznetsova vs. the upset specialist Cornet, (5) Vesnina vs. Begu, (8) Kasatkina vs. Bencic, and (2) Cibulkova starting against the winner of Lucie Safarova/Daria Gavrilova…In addition to Kuznetsova a wildcard was awarded to Russian Anna Kalinskaya…Pulling out of the event were former French finalist Sara Errani, former US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, and Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig…Kuznetsova is the defending champ, in last year’s all-Russian final beating Pavlyuchenkova…Former champs in the field are Kuznetsova (2015), Pavlyuchenkova (2014), Cibulkova (2011), and Jankovic (2008).

Men’s Notes: The No. 19 top-seeded Bautusta Agut the only Top 20 player in the field…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Few floaters or tough opening-round match-ups…Janko Tipsarevic meets Dusan Lajovic in an all-Serb 1st round with the winner meeting (3) Kohlschreiber…Bautista Agut upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic last week in Shanghai..Wildcards were awarded to Turkey’s Cem Ilkel and Russians Karen Khachanov and Konstantin Kravchuk…Bernard Tomic and Jiri Vesely withdrew from the event…Bautista Agut lost to Marin Cilic in last year’s final for the second year in a row…Tipsarevic (2011) and Troicki (2010) and former champs in the field as the two-time defending champ Cilic takes the week off.

The WTA draw looks great for Moscow and I’m happy Kuznetsova is going be in there after all. She’s fought hard and there’s still a chance for her. The pink qualification line is just below Muguruza and we don’t know how bad her ankle was sprained in her match yesterday. Poor Jo Konta is also injured so, an alternate, if needed, might need to be someone else from those playing in Moscow. This is a big deal, Singapore :) My guess is that Cibulkova will make it – she has really left it all on the courts the past months and wants to go.

Luxembourg this coming week doesn’t count for RTS, so anyone going there isn’t serious about RTS points, anyway. But there’s always Zhuhai Final the week following Singapore, which could turn out with as interesting match-ups as Singapore.

The unfortunate thing about Zhuhai is that it’s scheduled right before Fed Cup. Not sure how many of the Czech team will feel about playing both — and there’s a lot of the Czech team who would qualify for Zhuhai, including Petra Kvitova.

They decided to move the qualified line to include Madison Keys. Will she be healthy enough to be competitive there after her Asian Swing push? That’s one of my doubts about Keys: fitness over the long run.

Congrats to Cibby. Well, she’s squarely in 8th spot but she’s possibly overplayed and her first opponent will be the resurgent Lucie Safarova or more likely Dasha Gavrilova. Cibulkova only needs 12 points.

Carla Suarez-Navarro could beat Cibby to the line by winning Moscow. But I think that’s unlikely this season. CSN is consistent but not as hot as in 2015.

Let the chips fall where they may for alternate needs as well, lol. I’m done with it.